My wife and I had been so excited to go on our cross-country road trip. We hadn’t ever been to the west coast. We grew up in a rural town in the Midwest, so we have never seen mountains or desert. We made a route before we left so that we could cut through all the differing terrains and catch all the major landmarks. On our way to Vegas though something happened that neither of us can really explain…
We were coming from California after driving down the west coast and had left Reno not that long ago. I saw a city called Hawthorne on the map and wanted to drive through it since Hawthorne Heights is one of my favorite bands (dumb reason, but still). We were driving and just enjoying the scenery and before we knew it, night had fallen upon us, and we were looking to get a hotel. Just outside of Hawthorne we found a campground on a lake, so we decided to camp out instead. I made up a tent and we laid there talking for about an hour until I heard my wife start gently snoring mid conversation. I rolled over and was about to close my eyes when I saw a shadow outside of my tent…
All my sleepiness left my body as I now had enough adrenaline to fight a gorilla pumping though me. I grabbed by trusty Springfield and proceeded to get up super carefully so as not to wake my wife and unzipped the tent. As I walked out, I heard the sound of a child’s giggle and chills went through my body. “Stupid kids,” I thought to myself as I laid back down. I set the gun back next to me and proceeded to slowly drift into the worst sleep I had gotten since we started our trip.
My wife awoke around 7am and proceeded to rouse me as well. She noticed the gun next to me and asked if everything was ok since I normally keep it in my backpack. I told her the events of the night prior and she said the kids were probably just out exploring. I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach though that I couldn’t seem to shake but I ignored it. We proceed to make breakfast and then tore down camp to get back on the road. She offered to drive since I looked like I barely slept but I said I was fine and we took off.
About five minutes down the road from our campsite we were about to go through a quaint little town off the lake. I had that same weird felling in the pit of my stomach that I had felt the previous night. I hear my wife scream “There’s a little girl on the side of the road! Stop, she may be hurt!” Everything in my body said not to but my wife was already halfway out of the car while it was still in motion. I pulled over and my wife ran over to the little girl who was sobbing asking for her mommy. I looked for my gun to put in my waistband and I realized it was back in the trunk. My wife was talking to the little girl and asking her where her family is. “We were camping… and I wanted to explore… so I walked away and now I’m lost…” the little girl muttered in between sobs. I close the trunk after getting myself situated and look at my wife. “We should take her back to the campsite and see if we can find her parents.” she said. Reluctantly I agreed, the feeling of uneasiness still weighing heavily on me. “I’ll try to find a number for a non-emergency police line. You get her into the car.” I said to my wife. I looked at the frightened young girl, “You’ll be fine sweety. We will get you back to your family.” I stepped away from the car and pulled out my phone… no service. Being from the Midwest, I always forget about the mountains interfering with cell signal. “I got nothing,” I holler to my wife, “You have any service?” She checks her phone and shakes her head. “Dammit…” I guess we should just drive back up the road and see.
My wife decides to sit in the back with the little girl to try to help keep her calm and we head on our way back to that godforsaken campsite. As we are driving, I hear my wife and the little girl talking about her family and how her mommy and daddy love road trips. My wife got excited and started talking about our trips and favorite locations and a smile creeped on the girl’s face. I’m continuing to drive just listening and some of these stories bringing back happy memories. The girl continues with talking about how her parent’s favorite locations are where there are mountains and how they were from the Midwest. As she said that I felt a chill up my spine that I couldn’t explain. My wife was joyously talking to this little girl not realizing the oddities. I’m wondering at this point if she is enjoying the company of having a child around since we are unable to have one. They continue talking until I pull the car back into the campsite.
My wife gets out and helps the little girl out and says, “Let’s go find your parents.” The little girl gets out of the car and says, “Let’s go Mommy” and grabs my wife’s hand and off they went. I turned around to say something as my wife shut the door. I can only assume my wife didn’t catch what she had said, and they proceed to go towards where the tents were set up. I waited for about 15 minutes before I was concerned. I proceeded to get out of the car and walk over myself and as I did, I ran into a couple leaving with their supplies. I asked them if they had lost a daughter or had seen my wife and they shook their heads and told me they were the last ones to leave the campsite. Now a bit past freaked out, I grabbed my gun out of my waistband and run to the campsite. Nothing to be found anywhere. I yell for my wife and all I hear back is a child’s giggle…